Tuesday, December 27, 2016

top 10 albums of the year: #3

Smoked with hazy interludes and tuneful motifs, Blood Orange's Freetown Sound features Dev Hynes' signature atmosphere and melodies. Single "Augustine" recalls lives cut short. "Best to You" thrums with sparkly percussion; my favorite track "Better Than Me" skips in trip-hop and mirrorball shadows. But within the fabric of these soothing, optimistic "free" sounds are some deeply personal and timely lyrics.

"The line “you chose to fade away from me” comes back a lot throughout the album. When I first wrote that melody, it was about a couple of friends of mine that overdosed on heroin and died in the last few years. That’s why I was singing about the choices that people have made: “You chose to fade away with him, I chose to try and let you in.” Then, as I was working on the album and thinking about the phrase, it started to become almost like a call for wanting warmth and closeness. The simple idea of someone letting you in is a beautiful thing." -Dev Hynes